Friday, January 25, 2008

Wow, crazy few weeks there folks! Lots going on, not much time to game. But when the gaming and fun have taken place, the time was well spent. Progress is theme tonight folks, so let me break it down for you:

First and foremost, I am officially "good" on Hard in Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Emphasis on Rock Band. I have 5 starred all but 5 songs (from the main list) in Rock Band on Hard, and am starting to get into Expert. I honestly never thought I would get the hang of it all, but just like training to get the blue button down, the orange button has succumbed to my whims and... well, why be subtle... the orange button is my bitch now. I own it. As a matter of fact... I pwn it. Guitar Hero 3 is still brutal on Hard, but Rock Band was the perfect way to get into the groove of the orange button.

Speaking of Rock Band, how much does this downloadable song thing rock?! A lot, that is the quantity I was going for. From Oasis to Blink 182 to STP, every week Harmonix puts out at least 1 good song that is more than worth my $2 or so. Every tuesday I am assaulted with questions about what new songs I bought, and I am nothing but excited about what may come next. Harmonix have proven that QUALITY pieces can be released on a regular basis, no excuses.

Speaking of excuses, I have none. I spent $25 (half priced!) and re-bought Guitar Hero 2 for the 360. It is rather shocking how different each of these games (GH3 vs RB vs Gh2, etc) is from the last, even if they are made by the same people for the most part. GH2 shows a lot of notes on screen at once, and the colors are horrendous in HD. It is hard at times to see which note to press because the yellow note is the same color as the fret board, or because the blue note is actually white instead of blue. This should have been tweaked on the 360 to make the colors work better, because they officially suck.

One reason why I re-bought it is because I wanted to see how the DLC there turned out (love the My Chemical Romance) and also because I am officially an achievement whore. Which is one reason I also rented Tony Hawk: Project 8. I miss the old Tony Hawk games with simple goals and progressive learning and skills. Project 8 has some good points, and controls beautifully, but I am tired of all the sandbox crap that every game seems to want to do. Nothing in the game is unique enough to make it stand out. It took me at least 6 hours before I could find my way around the game because of the lack of a good map. Still better that Skate's 1000000 square mile bore fest town, but too much gets opened up at once and can get overwhelming. The most fun I have had is doing the classic goals in each area. Also, what is up with the frame rate when going from one area to another? The game practically freezes at points. Yes, this is a first gen 360 game, and I am sure the newer games are much improved, but you can lose a line from these horrendous loads.

That is all for now. Time to go and sing some Wonderwall (my arms are killing me). Also, if anyone own an air hockey table and wants to get embarrassed, let me know. Later.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Hey big spender (props if you get the reference) mind if I use this soapbox for a quick second? We often read, see and hear about different charities, but how often do we actually take a moment to contribute? Lazy like me but want to make a difference? Here is a quick way:

For only a single contribution of $10, a bed net will be sent to a family in Africa, where mosquitoes quickly spread malaria. A simple net will let people sleep easy at night, and help prevent the spread of this disease. It takes 2 minutes and $10, that is all, it doesn't get any easier.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for contributing. Now back to your regularly scheduled weird video game and anime related posts.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

On Witchblade, the anime, in the 11th episode, Masane, the bearer of the Witchblade, just SHOT A SWORD OUT OF HER CROTCH INTO HER ENEMIES CROTCH WHILE HER ENEMY STOOD OVER HER!!!! SHE STABBED THE CHICK IN HER VAGINA WITH A VAGINA BLADE!

Monday, January 7, 2008

One week into the new year, and honestly, not that much has happened at all that is good and happy. However, I felt like updating, so I figured I would just start typing and seeing where it led me. So what have I been up to this year? In alphabetical order:

Bleach: Bleach is coming back in March! This Saturday, Adult Swim started airing the reruns from about 8 episodes back from where they last aired new episodes. Doing the math, I figured out that new episodes would start airing on March 1st. I then looked at Adult Swim's schedule and confirmed it. I am often curious why certain shows only get dubbed to a certain point in the series, for example, directly in the middle of a huge plot segment, but such is the anime industry I guess.

Brownies: Long story short, my family was given several slabs of professionally made brownies. Now, I thought it impossible to tire of brownies, but I have been proven wrong. Please, keep your brownies away from me... ya know, for a week or two at least.

Death Note: I apologize, Death Note. When first I watched you about 5 months ago, I hated you. Thought you were too weird and cheesy/dramatic to be any good. Out of pure habit, I accidentally watched your 3rd episode because Bleach used to be on in your time slot. I liked it. I like it a lot. I am now humbled before your tension filled convoluted plot. Please don't disappoint me!

Rock Band: My office is obsessed with Rock Band. It doesn't hurt that we have a big media room with an HD Sony projector and 120" screen. Even the young women of high class, who would rarely dabble in the video game world, are addicted. On a personal note, I am about half way through the solo drum tour on Hard (because it is really hard) and about 75% of the way through guitar on Hard. Yes, I play guitar on Hard now, and I don't do too bad to be honest :) Pretty soon I hope to play Hard exclusively, but we will see how I fare in a group atmosphere compared to the solo aspect, because I have found myself the appointed "leader" and must watch other players play to help out a bit, namely sing along with the songs and let people know when to use Overdrive. I see it as a compliment, but I would like to take a backseat and just play sometimes.

Sweeney Todd: Finally got a chance to see Sweeney Todd, and I was both pleased and disappointed. Pleased in how well the movie worked and how well it was done. Depp did a great job with the character, and I often forgot it was him playing Todd, quite a feat for such a famous face. Disappointment showed up from the lack of music. While there was plenty of music and singing in the movie, some of my favorite songs, especially The Ballad of Sweeney Todd, were not included in the film. Yes, I am slightly biased in that Tony Head and Christopher Lee were to play the singing ghosts, but I would have still loved to see the songs and heard them performed by these extremely talented men. Overall, a good movie and very very well done.

Witchblade: I finally found the time to get back into the Witchblade anime. The 2nd volume has been sitting on my shelf since November. It still is nothing special, a lot (and I mean A LOT) of gratuitous butt and boob shots and silly dialogue, but it is fun, and is weaving a good tale. I am very curious to find out about Masane's past, if Rihoko is really her child, if she picks Tozawa or Takayama romantically, etc. I am picking up the 3rd volume tonight, and will probably watch it this week.